


When The Light Goes Out

by faierieprince



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adoribull - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, I'll add as things come up, Modern AU, Zombie AU, Zombies, not relationship focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-06-08 15:36:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6861001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faierieprince/pseuds/faierieprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d had the nightmare before, and knew every twist and turn that awaited him. Try as he might, he could never wake up, only push through until it was over. But then again, it was never really over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nightmare

Fear. That’s all he felt now, from the pit of his stomach outwards. It didn’t matter that he knew it was a dream; everything felt so real and, to some extent, was real for him. His legs and lungs burned from running, his muscles revolting when he needed them most. He tried to scream, but nothing came out.

The feelings the sounds, the smells, everything was so real... Dorian grabbed the staff from where he knew it rested behind the truck, bracing himself for the fight to come. He heard them before he smelt them, smelt them before he saw them. On their final approach he held his staff ready in fighting position, eyes squeezed shut, willing himself to wake up before anything happened.

His eyes opened as he heard a groan right in front of him, perhaps ten feet away. What he saw was a vile creature, once human but not anymore. Its flesh was rotting, grey and dark red, falling off its frame in some places. The putrid smell of rotten meat permeated the air. Flies buzzed around its head, attracted to the scent, and there appeared to be larvae of some sort under its skin. Its eyes were sunken and bloodshot, its lips sucked against its teeth. What remained of its clothing hung from its feeble frame, stained with what Dorian could only assume was blood.

The creature hobbled toward him at a surprising pace, reaching him in a matter of moments. Others followed, with strangled groans announcing their arrival. Dorian flipped his staff to hit the first one upside the head, a decided _thwap_ sounding as it made contact. This caused it to fall to the right, stumbling to regain balance, then attacking him with increased fervor. This time, Dorian shoved the butt of the staff through its eye. It sank in with sickening ease and a squelching sound. He kicked it to the ground and turned to the others.

All in all, there were about ten of them, but Dorian knew more would come. He had to keep fighting, though; he couldn’t give up regardless of how he knew this would end. He stood with his staff at the ready for the next one to reach him, trying to prevent its outstretched arms from making contact with his own. When another grabbed his shoulder, Dorian spun around, his staff shattering its skull in one terror-fueled blow. He continued the spin to hit the other in the ribs, knocking it to the ground. He stomped his boot down on its head as hard as he could, breaking it open. In hindsight, this was not the best decision, as his boot was now covered in brain matter.

Three came at him now. He managed to fend them off briefly, but one got ahold of his arm. He screamed and attempted to shake it off, becoming distracted. It took some effort, but Dorian managed to knock it down, backpedaling rapidly to get away from it. In doing so, he fell into another, receiving a bite to the shoulder. The resulting scream drew more of the dead to him, but he swung his staff in an attempt to take them out. In swinging he lost his footing, and he fell to the ground.

Immediately he was mobbed by the creatures, feeling their teeth ripping chunks out of his body. The pain was immeasurable, the fear even more so. Would they kill him completely, or would he become one of them? He wasn’t ready to die, no, not yet, not ever! He screamed out for help, though he knew none would come, and then the world went black.

*****

            Dorian awoke with a scream, covered in a cold sweat, and breathing heavily. The group around him jolted awake, all grabbing for weapons.

            “Everyone go back to sleep. It’s okay. Nightmare is all,” Bull announced, and the rest of the group laid back down to get whatever sleep they could.

            Bull’s arm was around Dorian in a heartbeat, and he whispered softly into his ear in an attempt to soothe him. Ever so slowly Dorian came back around, his breathing slowed.

            Bull looked him over, concerned. “Are you okay? Was it the dream again?”

            Dorian nodded slightly, eyes still glazed over. “It was just so real, Bull. I knew what was coming, but I couldn’t fight them off. I just couldn’t do it. And the pain… I would swear on Andraste that it was real. _Vishante kaffas,_ why can I never do it? Why does it keep happening? Why-?”

            As he asked these questions, Dorian grew more hysterical, tears streaming down his face. He stopped when Bull’s finger pressed against his lips. “Shh, shh now. I know it seemed real, but it wasn’t. I’ll never let anything like that happen to you. I’ll always keep you safe,” Bull promised. He then wrapped his arms around Dorian, pulling him into his chest and holding him tight. “Go back to sleep, kadan. I’ll protect you.”

            “But what if I can’t protect you?” Dorian whispered.

            “Hopefully you’ll never have to, but if you do, I know you can do it. It’s just a dream, kadan, just a dream. It’s not a memory, it’s not a premonition, it’s just a dream. I know it feels real, but it isn’t,” Bull said softly, pausing briefly to run his fingers through Dorian’s hair in an attempt to soothe his sobs. “I’ll always be here when you wake up, big guy. And from there we’ll just take it one step at a time.”

            Dorian’s sobs eventually quieted. “Thank you,” he whispered, before falling into a fitful, but dreamless, slumber.

            Bull laid him down where he rested before, and stood up. He walked over to the fire, where Krem stood watch, and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take over for tonight. You get some rest.”

            Krem opened his mouth to argue, but closed it at the look in Bull’s eye. Instead, he simply nodded, and went to lay down by the others. Bull took his place by the fire, sitting down and staring into the flames. It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to my girlfriend @plesioth for editing and being overall amazing and perfect


	2. Safety Off

            They rose with the sun, needing to get a head start on the day’s journey. It was clear that Bull hadn’t slept after the last night’s incident, but no one mentioned it. They just packed up camp, and left.

            Their group began walking east, moving at a decent pace without speaking. The less noise they made, the better. Ideally, they would have been driving, but the cars that they had ran out of gas in a rural area. There were no cars around to siphon from, so they just had to continue on foot. As far as Dorian could tell, they were somewhere near Portland, Oregon. They were hoping to avoid the city whilst scavenging for supplies on the roads surrounding it. Of course, this was a risky move, but they were desperate. Sure, the new additions brought some supplies, but not enough. At this rate, they would starve before they reached any sort of safe zone.

            There were ten of them in total. First were the Iron Bull and Dorian, a young couple from California. Bull was a big man, Samoan, with a dead eye and a limp. Rumor had it that he was there at the beginning of it all, saw the first zombies as they were formed. His beau, Dorian, was tall, lanky, dark-haired, and olive skinned. He seemed so scared about the prospect of finding out how everything really started, or at least nervous about the subject. All in all, both of them cared about one another very much, and would do whatever it took to protect each other.

            Six others made up their original group, all friends of Bull. He said that above all others he trusted those six with his life. His main second was Krem, who he treated like family. The other five all had functions within the group, useful in their own ways. It was as though they were all a little family, however unconventional, and Bull intended to keep them all alive, along with the two other survivors they picked up in their travels. The first was a short, stocky man by the name of Varric. He was a crackshot with a crossbow, and good at keeping things light in these dark times. The second was a quiet woman, Bethany. She was tall, and good in stressful situations. When they found her she was searching for her brother, Garrett, so that was part of the group’s current mission.

            “Gang, hang up for a second,” Bull called out, pausing the group. He was standing in front of a sign next to the highway, hands on his hips.

 

**PORTLAND  1 Mile**

 

Below it there was another sign, wooden and handmade. It read:

 

**GO BACK**

**UNSAFE AHEAD**

**DON'T OPEN THE GATE**

 

            “What do you think it means,” Krem asked, glancing at Bull.

            “It means we’re turning around and going somewhere else,” Dorian huffed, his anxiety apparent to the rest of the group. Shifting nervously from one foot to the other, he looked at Bull. “Bull, please, you can’t be considering going down there.”

            Bull licked his lips, thinking. “We need supplies. We don’t have enough to last us through tomorrow, realistically. Plus I think we should investigate. Maybe there will be clues on where other survivors are. You guys with me?”

            “I most certainly am not!” Dorian crossed his arms, eyebrows knitted into an angry scowl. “That’s far too dangerous. We can get supplies somewhere else.”

            “While I normally would agree with Dorian, I may have to side with Bull on this one,” Bethany chimed in. “We need something more than trail mix to eat. If we are going to be able to deal with those… things at any given moment, we have to eat real food. I know it’s dangerous, but we need anything we can get.”

            Most of the group seemed to agree with her. Dorian looked incredulous. “Are you people serious? Are you crazy? Did we find some bad jerky, do you all have mad cow disease? Did _I_ eat something bad? Am I hallucinating? I mean seriously, people, when a sign says to get the hell out, you get the hell out. Why is this even a question?”    

            “Dorian, please, be reasonable-” Bethany began, but Dorian cut her off.

            “Be _reasonable?!_ I’m the only one being reasonable! You are the unreasonable ones!” Dorian’s arms were crossed, breathing heavily, his eyes widened in disbelief. Bull put his hand on Dorian’s shoulder, but Dorian shrugged it off. “Don’t you start, Bull. I don’t need you telling me that I’m being irrational.”

            “That’s not what I was going to say, Dorian.” At this, Dorian looked up. His eyebrows were still knitted in anger, but his eyes had softened. Bull looked him in the eyes, his lonely one darting between both of Dorian’s. “What I was going to say is that you _are_ the rational one here. The smart man would turn back and figure something else out. But we can’t take that chance, not now, not with a group this big. We can’t afford to risk all our lives on the off chance that we can find supplies nearby. So I really think we have to make the stupid man’s decision. We’ll see if there are supplies down there, maybe other people who got trapped in somewhere. We have to risk it, Dorian. We have to.”

            Dorian stared Bull in the eye for a long moment. Then he sighed, and said “I suppose you’re right.” The rest of the group collectively sighed in relief. The longer they argued, the more dangerous things got. A decision meant that they would be safe sooner.

            And on they went, navigating around empty cars and dead bodies. Soon they were on a bridge overlooking the freeway, where they paused. Everything was silent, save for the wind moving through the cars. Well, that and the muffled groans of the dead. Behind a huge barrier. From their vantage points, they could see over the barrier, and see all the bodies trapped behind it.

            “Do you think that’s the gate they mentioned?” someone asked meekly.

            “I don’t see much of a gate,” Bull answered. “More like a barrier. There must be a gate to it somewhere.”

            “I have a bad feeling about this,” Dorian muttered, biting his lip and gripping his walking stick harder. His anxiety balled in the pit of his stomach and rolled in endless circles. “Can’t we just loot some of these cars and be on with it?”

            “We can try, but I think we’ll have better luck closer to the city. If we could find a gas station or convenience store outside the city, we could probably loot the remaining supplies. Maybe even some gas, we could probably find keys in some of these cars…” Bethany’s musings continued for a few minutes before trailing off. Everyone turned to Bull for guidance.

            “I think that’s a great idea, Beth. Maybe we can find this gate, too. See if there are any survivors.”

            “I just want it to be noted, yet again, that I think this idea is terrible,” Dorian declared.

            “Noted, sparkler,” Varric retorted. “Now shut up and move. We’re sitting ducks up here.”

            The group moved on, weapons at the ready. It was always dangerous to move along a street packed full of abandoned cars. Zombies could be around any given corner. They normally were slow when dormant, but as soon as they were roused they ran unnervingly fast. It was crucial that they stayed quiet and unnoticed, especially if the city was as overrun as it seemed. Any living being needed to be prepared to run at a moment’s notice, or maybe even kill. The prospect heightened the anxiety within the group, tensions increasing dramatically with every passing moment.

            Quiet and unnoticed, quiet and unnoticed, quiet and unnoticed…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I know this chapter is mainly set-up and introductions, but just wait. Please kudos and comment if you like it!!


	3. Unexpected Guests

            From the head of the caravan, Bull motioned for them all to stop. Everyone paused, breaths hitched as their gazes followed in the direction he pointed. Several of the dead were ahead of them, scattered between the cars about 500 feet ahead of them.  They would be able to handle them on their own, but at the risk of attracting others nearby. Everyone looked around for a safe route around the biters, and Varric motioned for them to move to down a freeway exit that was mostly clear. Bull nodded, and the group proceeded slowly, directing each other past cars and biters.

            It was slow going, but they made it safely down the exit. What greeted them was a blockade of cars with various objects stacked on top of them to create a wall of sorts.  Based on the sounds coming from inside the blockade and the intensified smell of death and decay surrounding it, a herd of the dead were trapped behind it. And judging by the fact that the sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bones accompanied the usual groans and stutters, they were only trapped there recently.

            Varric whistled softly. “That’s one hell of a gate.”

            “If they’re eating then that could mean there are people trapped back there,” Bethany said in a low voice, glancing anxiously at Bull and the rest of the group.

            “So what? It's not our job to rescue them. We said we were only coming down here for supplies. We don’t need extra mouths to feed, and I personally am not willing to risk my neck for people who may or may not be trapped back there with biters.” Krem crossed his arms and turned to Bull. “I’m sorry, but we just can’t risk it. When the world decided to end it became every man for himself. We can’t afford more mouths, nor can we afford trouble if the supposed people back there turn out to be backstabbers.”

            Bull still looked deep in thought, as though he was conflicted about whether or not they could risk it. Krem sighed deeply at Bull’s delay. “We have standards that people have to meet in order to stay with us, and it is just too much of a risk to assume any survivors will meet them,” he added, voice and eyes softer.

            They both looked around at the rest of the group. There were enough nervous faces that Bull didn’t want to make a decision. He sighed. “Let’s put it to a vote. Whoever wants to investigate further, raise your right hand. If you want to move on, raise your left.” Six raised their right, four raised their left. “Then it’s settled. We check the barricade for survivors.”

            The four who voted against the search briefly argued before Bethany brought up the fact that the longer and louder they argued the more likely it was that they would attract biters. Everyone then quieted down and began devising a plan.

            Bull would boost a reluctant Krem over the wall first so he could analyze the situation better. Next would be Dorian, then Varric, and finally Bull. The rest of the group would remain behind and loot cars for supplies. Ideally, the group who went over the wall would be in and out quickly, as they couldn’t afford to spend time doing anything more than a cursory examination. If they found people, great. If they found good supplies, also great. Either way, they needed to be out shortly if they were to make it out of the city by nightfall.

            “I still think this is a bad idea,” Krem noted, as Bull boosted him up.

            “Agreed.” Dorian was standing next to Bull, arms crossed and antsy. He would have preferred to remain behind, but he also refused to leave Bull’s side. As soon as Krem gave them a thumbs up, Bull boosted Dorian and Krem pulled him up. They followed the same procedure with Varric. Bull managed to grab the edge of the wall with a running start, and the others pulled him up with only some difficulty.

            The noise they made getting up had attracted the notice of the herd. They got louder, teeth gnashing and guttural snarls erupting from their throats. Fingers curled into talons, the biters reached for the group, but they were just out of reach.

            Bull whistled in surprise at the number of biters trapped behind the wall. As far as he could estimate, nearly one hundred of the damned things were right in front of them, with more packing in from around the corners of buildings. “Now even I’m not sure if anyone could be locked back here. The place is deserted, except for biters, so I doubt anyone could survive in there for very long,” he called down to the rest of their party on the ground. “Still want us to check it out?”

            The general consensus was that yes, they should still check it out. With some mild grumbling from Krem and Dorian, they set off walking along the wall, surveying the scene more closely. The area directly in front of them was packed tight with biters, and there would be no way to get down there without getting bit. The wall ran on past where they could see, stopping against a building and then continuing on the other side. The building seemed to be an old retail store; clothes, jewelry, and accessories lined the inside, and the building itself seemed to be untouched. The windows were accessible from the wall, though there was no way of opening them. Looking upwards, Varric spotted what seemed to be the corporate office windows, which did have latches and could probably be opened quietly.

            “I reckon we can get in those windows without drawing so much attention.” Varric licked his lips, thinking of how they could get up there. “Hey Tiny, I think if you hold one of those two on your shoulders, they could reach the windows. Maybe one is unlocked. I’m sure they could find something inside to bring the rest of us up.”

            Bull hummed at the proposition and nodded. Leaning against the wall of the building, Bull laced his fingers together and knelt down by Dorian, nodding at him to hop on up.

            “You want _me_ to go up there? Are you insane?” Dorian looked horribly offended, as though he hadn’t done worse things in his life.

            “You’re lighter and taller than Krem. Come on, just do it. I’ll even find you something nice in there,” Bull added with what Dorian knew was his version of a wink. Dorian rolled his eyes and placed a hand on Bull’s shoulder and a boot in his hands. With very little effort, Bull lifted him up and placed Dorian’s feet on his shoulders. After a moment of unsteadiness, Dorian gained his balance and reached for the window. His fingers could barely graze the windowsill and, try as he might, Dorian just couldn’t make it up to the window.

            “Bull… I can’t… Reach…” Dorian called down, straining as he attempted to grab the windowsill one more time.

            “Okay, okay, pause for a second,” Bull replied. He adjusted his stance so his feet were further apart, grabbed Dorian’s ankles, and boosted Dorian up on his hands. With the added leverage, Dorian was able to pull the screen off the window and push it open. After a moment, Bull’s arms began to shake. Dorian grabbed the sill and pulled himself up just as Bull’s arms gave out. With some struggle, and a lot of leg swinging, Dorian made it inside the building.

            Knife in hand, Dorian surveyed the room for biters. The room was simple and clean, no sign of biters or any drama. A large, heavy desk dominated the room, with a computer and various papers on top, and chairs on either side of it. A name plate rested on the desk, and the sight made Dorian queasy. It was unlikely that this room’s owner had survived... Before he finished canvasing the room, Dorian placed the name plate face down as a gesture of respect.

            The room was simply decorated. A tasteful Monet replica hung on one wall, a few personal trinkets scattered as decor, and a large fish tank sat opposite the desk. Without electricity or anyone to care for it, the tank had become filthy and Dorian could only assume any fish inside had died. He closed the door in case there were biters in the hall or other rooms, then searched around for something to help the others up. In the end, he settled on the curtains. He cut both of them down and tied them together as tightly as he could. Then he tied one end to the bottom of desk, and threw the other out the window. Being the lightest, Varric came up first, then Krem. The three of them held the curtains taught and helped pull Bull inside.

            Varric, Krem, and Bull all looked around the room for a moment, before clustering by the desk to devise a plan. They settled on moving into the hallway as a group, with Bull at the front and Krem bringing up the rear. They would clear each room as a unit, one by one, until the entire floor was clear. Then they would move downstairs to clear the store itself, ending with a search for supplies once it was safe.

            At Bull’s nod, Krem opened the door, allowing the others to pass into the hall before following. They cleared the rooms systematically, finding only a few trapped biters which were easily taken care of. The quiet emptiness of the building left a sad feeling in their hearts, knowing that all these offices used to have owners, and those people had lives and families, and everyone was likely now dead.

            As they stood in one of the offices, looking through the desk and drawers for anything they could use as a weapon, their voices became louder and their actions less discrete. They barely noticed the sound of a safety being release and a gun cocking, but it still caused them all to stop in their tracks. A commanding, feminine voice called out to them from the door.

            “Don’t. Move. I won’t hesitate to kill you where you stand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay! I initially planned to have this chapter + the next together, before I figured I had to scrap that since it would end up being 4000+ words ha. thank you very much for reading! kudos, comments, and sharing the tumblr post are all very much appreciated!


	4. Prowlers

“Place any and all weapons on the ground, slowly, and then you may slowly turn around with your hands where I can see them.”

            Krem darted a side-eyed glance at Bull, eyes asking whether they should comply. Bull inclined his head, then proceeded to place his gun and knives on the floor. Krem and Dorian followed with their own weapons, and, though he was hesitant, Varric placed Bianca on the ground in front of him. The four of them turned around, hands in the air. In front of them was red haired woman in police uniform, gun held in front of her.

Behind her stood two other women, both dark haired with weapons at the ready. On the left was a tall, lanky women with a staff, though she looked more anxious than anything else. The other was shorter and more muscular, with a fierce look in her eyes and a crowbar in hand.

“I am going to ask you a series of questions. You will reply quickly and concisely, or you will die. Understood?” the police woman asked, gun still held steady in front of her. Bull slowly inclined his head, and the questioning began. “Why are you here?”

“We saw the barricade. Wondered if any supplies or survivors were back here.” Bull paused for a moment, then cracked a small smile. “Guess we were at least kind of right.”

The woman did not smile back. “Are there others with you?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“6 more outside the barricade.”

“Any injured?”

“No.”

She paused for a moment, then slowly lowered her gun. She swallowed, and her voice cracked as she asked, “Can you take anymore?”

Bull glanced at the others and lowered his hands. They followed suit. He turned back to the three women and nodded. “We can. That’s half the reason we came in here. We were worried someone might be trapped.”

Krem turned quickly to look at Bull. “Are you serious? Are you not even going to test them?” He sighed and shook his head. “We can’t afford another incident, Bull.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Look at them, Krem. What choice do we have? We can’t just leave them.”

The policewoman cleared her throat. “I swear you can trust us. The three of us are good fighters. We can help.” Her eyes pleaded for help. Bull squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then sighed.

“Let’s start with the basics. My name’s Bull. This is Krem, Varric, and Dorian,” he added, gesturing to the men around him. “Who are you?”

“I’m Aveline. This is Merrill, and Isabela. We have another upstairs. A good man, named Donnic. We were on the police force together.”

“Alright, nice to meet you. I’ll want to meet this Donnic. But first, I have a few questions of my own, if that’s okay.” Bull’s voice was calm and even, though his fists were white-knuckled. Aveline nodded, and Bull continued. “Is it just the four of you?”

Another nod.

“Have any of you killed another living person? After this all started, I mean. Not before. We don’t care about the before.”

Aveline hesitated, then nodded. “Another group came through here before. I won’t go into detail about what they tried to do, but I assure you we had no choice. You know how people were, when all this started. Things got crazy, people got crazy. We did what we had to do to survive.”

“… I understand, and appreciate your honesty. How many of…. _them_ have you killed?”

“I haven’t kept track. But you have to understand that we would not have survived this long without fighting and killing them. We know what we’re doing.”

Bull nodded, taking that answer as enough. “Have any of you been injured or bit?”

“No bites, but… Donnic is injured.”

Bull raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said he could fight, that you wouldn’t hold us back.”

“He can, and we won’t,” Aveline replied firmly. “He was shot through his left shoulder, an accident. He can still use his right arm, he is still mobile, he is still strong.” She paused for a moment, grip tightening on her weapon, and tears in her eyes. “He needs more medical attention than we can give him. We’ve managed to keep the wound covered, and we’ve stopped the bleeding, but it’s starting to get infected. He needs real medical supplies, a real doctor.”

Bull sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not sure. I can’t have you jeopardizing the safety of my group.”

Aveline let out a sob, and Isabela wrapped her arm around her. “Please. Please, you have to help us. He will die without help, and the rest of us would soon follow. I’m begging you, please.”

“Bull, what about Stitches? Couldn’t he help?” Dorian chimed in. Aveline perked up slightly.

“You…. You have a doctor among you?”

Bull sighed again, glancing at Dorian before looking back to Aveline. “Yes. And medical supplies. As long as you lot can hold your ground and help us out, we’ll take you in.”

“Praise Andraste,” Aveline muttered, wiping tears from her face and holstering her weapon.

“We have some supplies, too,” Merrill said quietly, piping up from her position behind Isabela. “Some food, water, blankets, and the like.”

“Let’s go meet Donnic. I don’t like leaving him alone for too long, and we should be out of the city before nightfall. The prowlers get more active at night.”

“Prowlers, huh? Never heard that one before,” Bull said with a slight scowl as they followed Aveline down the hall and upstairs.

“If you’ve seen them at night, you’d understand,” Isabela muttered. “They’re smarter than the stories ever made them out to be. They don’t function as well in the light, because their eyes are hyper sensitive or something. They can’t find heat traces as well, maybe. But at night they’re in their prime, hunting in packs. I guess the ones out there are more like a horde, now, but it’s still true. Took out my entire crew one night, we didn’t even hear them coming.”

“Never seemed that smart to me,” Varric said, hoisting Bianca onto his shoulder and gripping her tighter. “Always just seemed like dumb zombies roaming aimlessly until they smelled blood.”

“They learn from each other, and from us. Whatever made them like this… It’s smart. It’s learning. It’s evolving. I wouldn’t count on us ever finding a cure.”

Dorian swallowed, hard, hands shaking as he adjusted his grip on his staff. This talk of the dead was making him anxious and paranoid, more so than usual. “Can we just stop talking about them and move on? We don’t have much time.”

“He has a point,” Aveline said, opening a door in the next hallway. Four makeshift cots were in there, one of which held a man whose skin was pale and sweaty with veins clearly visible. He had a thick, strong build, and a bandage around one shoulder. He sat up with a grimace as the door opened, reaching for the gun at his side. “Calm down, Donnic. It’s us. We found help. Someone to take us out of here.”

Aveline sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “Are you okay? Is it worse? What do you need?” Her eyebrows were knitted with worry.

Isabela leaned over to Bull, and whispered, “He looks worse. Less color than he had this morning. He’s acting strong for Aveline, but I’m sure he is far worse than he says or looks. We have to get him out of here.”

Bull just nodded slightly.

Donnic lifted his chin, gesturing towards Bull and his crew. He was eyeing their weapons, his own hand poised to grab one if he needed. “Who’re they?”

“This is Bull, Dorian, and Varric. We’ll be safe with them. They have a doctor who can help you. We’re going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. Sorry it's been almost 3 months since I've updated... Life got rough for a while. Still is. But writing can be soothing, and used to make me very happy, so I tried again. This chapter took me over and I just ran with it. I shall hopefully be back to regular updates soon, so keep an eye out. We will soon be to the part of the fic I actually mapped out with something other than the word "plot??????" hah.   
> Comments, kudos, and reblogs are greatly appreciated and a great way to keep me writing. Thanks for the support and thanks for reading!!


End file.
